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Markets Are Anxious—But in This Circle, Optimism Abounds
Economists, consumers , and business leaders are antsy. Wall Street analysts are bullish.
Of the 12,320 analyst ratings on S&P 500 stocks, 55.7% of them are Buy ratings, according to a recent report from FactSet Research. If that holds through the end of the month, it will represent the highest month-end percentage of Buy ratings since August 2022.
Another read: The share of Buy ratings is currently above its 5-year average (55%), according to FactSet, while the shares of Hold and Sell ratings are below their 5-year averages (39.1% and 5.9%, respectively).
The S&P 500 fell into a correction last week amid growing concerns about the Trump administration’s tariff policies and the potential they’ll raise prices and slow economic growth. President Trump and his deputies have fueled the market’s anxiety by repeatedly acknowledging that tariffs might cause economic pain, but that they’ll go through with them anyway.
Big tech stocks have been hit particularly hard this year: The Magnificent Seven, for example, fell into a correction weeks before the S&P 500. Yet they remain among the stocks analysts are the most bullish on.
Microsoft ( MSFT ), Amazon ( AMZN ), and Nvidia ( NVDA ) are the S&P 500’s fourth, fifth, and sixth highest-rated stocks, respectively. Ninety-five percent of the analyst ratings on Microsoft and Amazon stocks are Buys, just slightly higher than Nvidia’s share (93%). Not a single Wall Street analyst recommends selling those stocks, according to FactSet's calculations.
The tech sector is the second-highest rated sector—63% of ratings are Buys—bested only by energy, with 65%. Meanwhile consumer staples, a traditionally defensive sector that tends to outperform when investors expect a recession, has the lowest share of Buy ratings (41%).
That discrepancy tracks with a recent report from Bank of America suggesting investors bought up cyclical stocks and sold defensives during last week’s sell-off.
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